19b: And the darkness fell
by cali-chan
Summary: The shamans have an enemy in very high ranks. And before they can fight him, they must run away. [Suspense, Mystery, Romance, Action]
1. Prologue

And the darkness fell over the outsides of Furano. 

It was all dark around the house. Nothing unusual about that, the man thought, while he stepped on a few dead leaves on his way to the main door. The lights usually turned on a half an hour after the sunset.

The moon was full, but hidden behind the mountains on the far side of the horizon, so its glow illuminated the small valley in a very subtle fashion, like shyly, just allowing a light visibility. It had been a cold afternoon, and the night promised to be even colder. He thought it was fabulous. He liked cold nights, because they made him feel more connected to nature in a way, like his ancestors had been.

He should've noticed that it was nature itself trying to give him a sign.

He quietly pulled his keys out of his jacket pocket, and tried to find the right one to open the door. He wasn't that old, but his memory failed him from time to time, so it took him a little while to remember which one it was that he was supposed to use. He found it at last, a small, square, golden key that his son had given him just a couple of days ago, because the original one had gone missing.

Just as quietly he made his way into the house, noticing that it was as dark as the surrounding area. The only light that covered the hall was the vague moonlight, coming in through a window. Not even a candle was lit. His children weren't home, then. It was confirmed, too, by the fact that all was quiet, since his kids, no matter where they went, were always the cause of a lot of noise.

Just as he closed the door behind him, he realized that which he should have realized before he came in.

It was TOO quiet.

It scared him at first. He had lived near the mountains his whole life, and he knew firsthand all the kinds of creatures that inhabited them. Even the forest spirits, though they were close to extinction, were still there: few, but happy. This silence... it was very strange. It was like suddenly something-- SOMEONE had-- who knew-- TURNED OFF the forest. He couldn't even hear the whisper of the wind. It felt... antinatural. Eerie.

Doubtful, he walked closer to the window. It wasn't a large window, but he could see a good part of the forest through it. He couldn't see animals, but that was to be expected... it was after dark, after all. Maybe he shouldn't be making such a big deal out of this. Maybe the animals were just unusually quiet because of the cold.

Not sure, he walked to his room, telling himself that he wasn't nervous, and trying to make his steps as confident as posible, even though there was no one around he wanted to convince of his confidence. Opening the sliding door, still with his keys in hand he took off his shoes and kneeled to leave them beside his futon.

A door closed.

The man held his breath for a few minutes, and slowly stood up, scared.

No animal could've gotten in, much less without him noticing. And spirits had no flesh... they couldn't close a door, or cause any similar sound.

Without turning his head, he looked sideways as much as his vision range allowed him to, scared to death of what he might find.

There was someone in the house.

He tried to calm down. It must've been one of his children, who had forgotten something and came back to get it, eager to return to the town later. One of his kids' bedroom doors could've been closed by the wind. There were many explanations that didn't include the presence of an intruder. He just had to calm down...

It happened too fast.

Another opened door.

Fast-paced steps.

Keys falling to the floor.

A scream.

A silver sparkle.

Slashed skin.

Pain.

BLOOD.

His attacker left, as silently as he'd come in. And he fell to the floor, with the moon, cowardly hidden behind the mountains, as his only witness. And with his last shred of consciousness, he told himself that the lights would never again come on for him.

---

little author's notes:

heya guys! this short prologue thing was published some years ago in spanish and sadly i never got to finish chapter one so it's been laying there in my hard drive for that long. i read it again a couple days ago and decided to resurrect it, but i wanted to write it in english because i think the words come easier to me that way. so here you have it, just the prologue and i'm sure it's confusing, but you'll understand soon enough. hopefully i'll finish the first chapter soon, too.

one question, though: the mankin manga, is it finished already? (i haven't had contact with the mankin fandom in, gosh, years!) how many chapters are there anyway?


	2. Chapter 1

Asakura Yoh walked in good company back to his home after school, as he did every afternoon. He was relaxed, with his white shirt unbuttoned, hands in his pockets and earphones over his ears so he could listen to his favorite music. He was happy, because thanks to the help he had received by a certain spirit that dwelled near his house, he had done great on his World War II exam that morning.

Beside him walked his best friend, a shorty by the name of Oyamada Manta, who was still a midget even after so many years. He was yapping about something (homework, surely. What else could it be?), but to be honest, Yoh wasn't paying much attention. Of course, if Manta ever asked, he would completely deny it.

A few steps ahead of them, Kyouyama Anna walked, she was Yoh's fiancée of the last ten years. And she surely wouldn't be for muh longer, Yoh thought, because now that they were both 18, it was very probable that his grandmother would pop by one of those days and have them married before any of the two could complain.

Of course it was kind of uncomfortable to be roped into an arranged marriage, as if they still were in the 19th century or something, but deep down it wasn't so bad. Him and Anna had been through so much together, Yoh considered, that they had gotten used to each other. After all, they had been living together for four years-- how much different could being married be? And it wasn't completely forced on them, either: If he was asked, Yoh had no qualms about openly admitting he loved Anna, and while she didn't speak much about her own feelings, he knew her enough to see that she cared about him. All in all, Yoh couldn't be happy without Anna as much as he couldn't be happy without, say, Manta. Certainly, sharing a life (or maybe more) with Anna wouldn't make his life worse, although he'd have to do the housework until his last day, which didn't make him all too happy.

The teen let his eyes lazily gaze over the frame of his fiancée, a couple of feet away from him. She walked with her back straight, always looking ahead, proud. The Ice Queen, the boys of a gang that always hung around their school had dubbed her. And yeah, she was cold. But that made her different. It made her special, or at least that's the way Yoh liked to see her. Her blond her had grown longer over the last few months (of course she had already trimmed it down again, but Yoh was clueless and hadn't noticed yet). Her white shirt wasn't too tight, or too loose on her. Or well, it seemed that way from the back, but it would probably be a bit tight in the front. Because, yeah, Anna was no Pamela Anderson, but she wasn't bad at all. And that green schoolgirl skirt was fabulous on her. Yoh had always wondered how something so short could look so prim and proper. It accentuated her slim waist perfectly, falling down over her delicate hips, and showing off her long legs.

Yoh knew that if Anna found out he thought of her this way, she would strangle him. But he had hormones to listen to and, well, a look never hurt anyone.

"...fessor comes up to me and says that it wasn't necessary for me to... Hey, Yoh."

Manta's voice pulled Yoh out of his musings. The shaman immediately looked down to see what stopped the little guy. Anna, too, stopped, turning around to look at them both.

"What is it, Manta?"

"Aren't those HoroHoro and his sister?" he asked, pointing with a finger to a spot on the other side of the street.

Yoh and Anna followed Manta's direction with their eyes and saw that, effectively, a light-blue-haired boy and girl were walking out of a store.

"Yeah, it's them," Yoh replied with a big smile. "I'll go say hello." And with that he ran to the other side of the street.

Anna and Manta, who still hadn't moved, watched him go. Anna, who didn't seem so happy to see the Ainu shaman and his sister (but then again, when did Anna seem happy?), commented: "How do you like it, midget?" with a side look to Manta. "It seems like you'll have to cook twice more now."

Manta, who up to that moment hadn't been aware he'd have to cook, let his head roll down, defeated. They both crossed the street, following Yoh.

---------

"Okaerinasai, Yoh-sama, Anna-sama!"

Tamamura Tamao ran outside to welcome them, as she did every afternoon, with a big smile on her face. She was happy because she had prepared Yoh-sama's favorite dessert and she was hoping he would like it. She got even more excited when she saw the masters of the house weren't alone; judging by the color of the sun's reflections in their hair, she guessed they were HoroHoro and his sister Pilika, which made her feel glad because she hadn't seen them in a long time.

Her enthusiasm crashed down when she saw the expressions on their faces.

Anna-sama's scared her. It wasn't unusual that she acted serious and was frowning, but the level of seriousness in her shoulders was such that it reminded Tamao of the time they participated in the Shaman Tournament. It was a seriousness that warned everybody that something horrible was about to happen and that they couldn't do anything to stop it.

Yoh-sama... didn't look like himself. His eternal smile was gone. In its place only existed a shadow, weak and sad, of what it used to be. He looked worried, as if he were trying to look at the positive side of things but couldn't find it. Tamao only remembered seeing him like this once... when they were about to fight Hao.

HoroHoro-san seemed barely able to stand by his own strength. He looked tired, with dark circles under his eyes and as pale as a corpse. He had one arm around his sister's shoulders, and he supported her while she cried her eyes out on his shoulder.

Tamao looked one by one at each of them, scared. What could be happening that was so terrible that everybody was crumbling in front of her? Yoh, feeling her confusion, gave her that empty smile, hoping to calm her down a little. "Tamao, could you please prepare some tea for Horo and Pilika, please?"

The innocent pink-haired girl didn't know if that smile made her feel better or worse. With one last glance at the darkened Ainus, she nodded and walked to the kitchen.

She felt torn. On one side, she wanted to know what was happening. Horo-san and Pilika-san were her friends, too, and if there was something wrong with them, she, too, wanted to be there beside them to help them. But on the other side, she didn't know how helpful she could be in that moment... it was probable that if she were outside trying to listen, she'd only be a nuisance. So she decided that if Yoh-sama sent her to prepare tea, it was because that way she could be of help, and she diligently continued her assigned task.

Walking out of the kitchen with the tray, she could hear little bits of the conversation.

"...meone killed your father?"

Tamao had to react quickly so she wouldn't drop the tray when she heard that. She couldn't help it, she trembled from head to toe. She knew the situation wasn't good but... she never... had never known consciously of the death of someone close to her. She didn't know how that felt, but... it must be horrible. She didn't know what to say.

"H-here's the... the tea," she intervened, presenting the tray to the Ainu boy, and with it the cups filled with hot liquid. "And a-also... I thought you might be... might be hungry after your trip, so I made you something to eat," she finished speaking very quickly, putting the cups and the plates on the table and moving the tray to her chest, as if to hide.

"Thanks, Tamao-chan. You're an angel," HoroHoro told her, smiling with true gratitude. Tamao blushed somewhat, and asked Yoh if she could stay and listen. They all agreed. When she finally got comfortable in the table, between Anna and Horo, the conversation moved on.

"We're very sorry for your loss, guys," Yoh commented, with a sad expression. HoroHoro thanked him. Tamao saw that Pilika rested her head on the table, refusing to speak, and Anna nodded, joining in on the condolences. "Is it okay if I ask how it happened?"

"He was stabbed," HoroHoro said before Yoh could even finish asking. His tone was dry and his eyes were lost in the emptiness.

Pilika couldn't take it anymore and she stood up, running towards the stairs. Tamao wanted to do something, go and help, but Horo told them it was better to let her be. Besides, he added, they'd be lucky if she found a futon, because she hadn't slept in two nights and she must be exhausted. Yoh reminded him in a worried tone that he, too, must've been suffering from fatigue, and that it would be better for him to go up and rest a little. HoroHoro, though, did not agree. He couldn't leave.

He had a story to tell.

"We couldn't understand. I don't know if you know, but we live on the outside of the forest, in the outskirts of Furano, near the mountains. You normally can't find many people there, and we know everybody that lives close, we have never had any problems with anyone. That's why we were so confused with Dad's death... we had no idea who would be capable of doing such horror.

"Yesterday, when we were burying him, Silver appeared. He didn't give me any explanations, nor about how he got there, or about how he knew where I lived... now that I think about it, he didn't really say much, only that my Father's death was no accident. He explained that there's a very, very important person that holds a grudge against all shamans, and was decided to eliminate us all from the face of the earth.

"According to Silver, the massacre started a month ago, in Kamchatka, and within days it reached Japan and is planned to continue towards the west. He told me not to lose time, to pack my things and run, taking Pilika, as far as possible. He warned me not to try and fight, because more than three hundred Shamans had died already and he didn't want me to become a statistic, like my Dad. He advised me not to go to the police, and told me to cover my tracks, because this person-- whoever he is-- has too much influence in the world and with little effort could find me, in the case I was sloppy. He told me to stay away from all kinds of Government Agencies, and also airports, bus stations, ports, telecommunications in general... The last thing he said before he left was to take this seriously, because it was too dangerous.

"I couldn't understand anything, really, but I thought that if what's going on is so serious as to scare the Patch Tribe, then it has to be really serious. I couldn't think of anything else I could do, so I decided to come to Tokyo and tell you guys.

"So... what do you think?"

Anna looked at him, doubtful. "Silver didn't say anything else?"

HoroHoro shook his head, taking to his mouth some of the food Tamao had brought

Anna turned to Yoh. "What do you think?"

Yoh shrugged. "Silver wouldn't joke about something like this," he affirmed, crossing his arms. "But I don't know if it's a good idea to react before having more... concrete information.

Anna nodded, for once agreeing completely with her fiancée's opinion. HoroHoro, now taking in his hands the cup of tea, carefully examined. Before taking the hot liquid to his lips, he added: "You guys choose what you're going to do... Pilika and I will follow you, whatever happens."

Tamao choked on a sob and covered her mouth with her hands. Anna gave the young Ainu a look of renewed respect. And Yoh lowered his head to the table, contemplating his next words.

"I don't think this decision should be made just by us."

----------

"OF COURSE NOT!"

The sound of Tao Ren's fist hitting the table resounded against all the walls of the Asakura Inn.

The young chinese man, in an agitated state, took a breath to calm the accelerated blood that ran through his veins, looking at Yoh in a defiant way. "Tao Ren is not a coward. Whoever it is, let him come. He won't be able to take me down."

Yoh sighed and shook his head at the Tao heir's abrupt reaction. Of course Ren would say that when he found out. He was predictable. And very stubborn. It would surely take them all a long time to convince him that leaving Tokyo was the best idea. Yoh only hoped the rest agreed with the idea. but on the other side, looking around the room, he was sure that half the people present weren't paying one iota of attention to his words.

While Ren leaned against his fists on the table, on the other side Anna trembled threateningly as she glared at the glasses full of milk and juice that had fell to the floor and spilled with the chinese guy's strike. HoroHoro and Manta, who were sitting closest to her, cautiosly inched away from her, step by step, as if they were afraid the wrath of the blonde girl would activate with a movement sensor. Faust was sitting towards the back of the room, focused on Eliza. Tamao decided, when faced with the obvious anger of the chinese Shaman, to go to the kitchen to get away from the argument. Only Ryu and Jun seemed to have heard him. Jun was frowning, contemplating the situation, with Lee Pyron standing beside her. Ryu had already dived into a speech about loyalty and courage and how he would follow Yoh-sama to the ends of the world. Until Ren couldn't stand it anymore and threatened to chop all his hair off with his glaive if he didn't shut up.

It was amazing how the environment in the Asakura residence remained normal even in abnormal situations.

"Maybe it would be better to listen to Silver, brother," Jun suggested, always the sensible one of the group. "Maybe he didn't just ask us to run, but to leave the city to gain some time and figure out this unknown murderer."

Ren put his hands inside the pockets of his dark green pants, looking at his sister without much trust. Was it a trap to convince him? For some reason Jun could always control Ren's decisions easily. She always took advantage of the fact that she was his sister and so he had to love her, to get him to do whatever she wanted.

The Taos had established their residency in Japan just a couple of years back. After the Shaman Tournament, they had gone back to China, but Ren, being the typical rebellious teenager, couldn't stand that for long and decided to again get a taste of independence, as far away as possible from his family... what better place to live could he ask for than in another country?

But even then, he didn't completely get to his goal, because just a couple of months afterwards, Jun decided to move in with him. The "official" reason was that she missed her little brother, and that Universities in Japan offered very interesting programs that easily attracted her attention. Rumor had it, though, that she had a secret boyfriend in Japan that her Father would never approve of, and she had left everything behind to be with him, taking advantace of her brother's presence. To that day Ren had found no proof of this.

"Then stay, whatever, but just shut up. I have a headache already," HoroHoro's tired voice snapped at him.

Ren fumed. "I think I WILL stay."

Yoh smiled at him, sheepishly. "That's great, Ren. That way when you finally meet this person you can give us a call and tell us who he is."

Ren's eyes narrowed at the laidback teen. "I won't need to call. I'll chop his head off and be done with it!"

"This is ridiculous. Stop this idiotic conversation right now," Anna's voice cut through the exchange like a butcher's knife through butter. Her tone left no room for arguments, so they all shut up. After all, when Anna ordered you to jump you only asked her "how high" while being two feet in the air already.

Jun was the first to speak, being less intimidated by the blonde. "I think we should plan this trip thoroughly, though. With all the instructions Silver gave Horo, it definitely won't be easy to be on the move."

"Yeah," Manta agreed. "He did say no airports, no bus stations, nowhere with computers... HoroHoro-kun, didn't you and Pilika-chan come by bus? Wouldn't that put you in danger?"

"Yes, by boat and then by bus," Horo explained. "But the little town where we took the bus was not very advanced. Our only contact with anyone in the station was the old lady we bought our tickets from. There were no computers in the station, I'd say there weren't any in the whole town..."

"Well, the probability of a place like that here in Tokyo is next to null..." Manta frowned and pulled a map of Japan. He was thinking of a possible route they could take that didn't involve large hubs of transport or technological networks through which they could be easily spotted. Because he was going, yes. He wasn't a Shaman so he was not a walking target, but if his friends were, he'd be right there with them. His family wasn't in any danger anyway, so he'd rather be where he was needed the most.

"I'd like to go to Izumo," Yoh requested.

"Is that a good idea, Yoh-kun?" Jun wondered aloud. "I was thinking more along the lines of leaving the country."

Yoh nodded; of course he understood what Jun was saying. "Yes, but I have to tell my family what's going on. And maybe my father and my grandparents can help us figure this out, who knows." He raised his eyes to look at everyone. "It might buy us a few days. You did say the killer is working from north to south, right?" HoroHoro nodded at him, and Yoh continued his explanation. "After that we can find a way to move towards the continent."

"Maybe we should just try the old-fashioned way," Manta suggested, though he sounded doubtful. "Asking for rides, and on foot. Worked in the Patch Village."

"Now there's a flashback to the good ol' days," Horo's nostalgic tone gave everyone pause for a moment. It had been a while since someone had last mentioned the Shaman Tournament that took place four years back.

"Yeah, only problem is-- we can't really cross the sea 'on foot,'" Ren sentenced gravely.

HoroHoro snorted. "Oh, it's WE now, isn't it?" He poked Ren in the shoulder, which made the Chinese Shaman twitch. "I thought you were staying?"

"My sister is going, so I have to be there to protect her," he muttered through gritted teeth, wanting nothing but to wipe the Ainu's face off but staying clear of a confrontation because he knew Anna would slaughter them all if anyone so much as breathed wrong.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Yoh replied to Ren's concern. Then, after Ren's murmured "there IS no such bridge large enough to go from Japan to China," the whole room went deadly silent. Tamao came in and started picking up the empty glasses, and Jun offered to help her. The rest just sit there, looking crestfallen and worried.

"Are you guys in that much danger, really?" Manta whispered, very afraid.

"Yes," HoroHoro replied in just the same whisper, like he was sighing instead of talking. "Silver said it would be very dangerous... but it's worse." A few eyes looked at him in concern; it couldn't be easy for him to be there, trying his hardest to help, after the terrible loss he'd just experienced. And still, he stood strong.

"...My father wasn't even a shaman."

--

**author's notes!--**

IT LIVES! w00t! XD

a bit of a geography lesson: horo & pilika's hometown is located in hokkaido, the north-most of the three main islands that form japan. for convenience's sake i decided on making it Furano (a city in the center of hokkaido, near the mountains). fubari-gaoka, where most of the mankin series revolves around, i guess is located somewhere in tokyo (I don't think it's a real place, though i could be wrong-- it could be such a small neighborhood that i can't find any info on it... it's certainly not a prefecture), which means it's in east-centery honshu, which, out of the three main islands, is the one in the middle. izumo, yoh's hometown, is also located in honshu but more to the south. and though this wasn't mentioned in this chapter, i decided that anna's hometown be hirosaki, in the aomori prefecture (which is what takei-sama tells us, i think), in the tohoki region, in the north of honshu, near ainu territory. it should be relatively close to the site where horo and pilika took the bus. it would also be relatively close to osorezan, where (again, correct me if i'm wrong) yoh and anna met. or at least where something happened to them-- not to spoil anyone. though i guess if i find out later it's too far away, i can make her hometown mutsu, which is where osorezan is really located. i wish i could tell you how close these distances really are, but all the maps i've found are in japanese so i can't really read them :-P if anyone wants to help i'd be really grateful.

please forgive me for any inconsistencies as it's been years since i've seen an episode of shaman king. i haven't read the manga either (though i have it up to volume 18, just haven't had the time to sit down and read). oh, i can't remember what color their school uniform is, so i'll take some creative liberties and say that it's green in upper secondary school, whatever. worked for digimon.

and do forgive me if the english in this seems a little forced. i'm translating this from the spanish i had it first written in at 3:40 am and i can't really think of which adjectives fit where. same goes for typos. i'll revise as soon as the semester is over... -sigh-


End file.
